When bad weather caused a family’s flight from Glasgow to London to be canceled, their chances of making their connecting flight to the Caribbean plummeted. However, it was their taxi driver who came to the rescue, saving their vacation.
John Murphy, 47, of Falkirk in Scotland, owns a taxi company, Elite Central Travel. On Feb. 20, he was driving customers home from the theater in Edinburgh when he received a call from his regular customer, Elaine.
Elaine and her family had booked a 3 a.m. taxi to Glasgow Airport for a flight to London, but amid treacherous weather conditions, the flight had been canceled.
“She had just received an email from British Airways,” Murphy told The Epoch Times; “they were trying to sort it out with BA customer service. Once I had dropped my customers off, I headed back to our office and spent an hour or so trying to find alternative flights or trains, but to no avail.”
Then, Murphy was struck by an idea: he would drive Elaine and her family to London Heathrow Airport himself.
“I called Elaine back and told them to be ready for 1 a.m.,” he regaled. “They were really appreciative, as they had no other way to get there.”
Murphy set out for the all-night drive amid snow, sleet, rain, and gale-force winds. The bad weather persisted throughout the 400-mile journey to London, but Murphy was determined.
“Driving conditions weren’t great,” he said, “but we just took our time ... we stopped a few times for a quick break, but I was conscious of the fact we had to be there for around 8 a.m.”
Upon reaching London Heathrow Airport, Murphy had yet another surprise in store for Elaine and her family, which was that he didn’t charge them for their taxi ride.
He explained: “Whilst driving down, I just got thinking to myself that it was absolutely terrible that these poor people were left in limbo by their airline.
According to Murphy, Elaine and her family had used their services 4–5 times a year and spent a lot of money. Thus Murphy thought it was “unfair” to charge them extra.
“I just told them to go and enjoy their holiday, and we'd talk about it when they got back,” he continued. “I advised them that I wasn’t charging them, and said that’s what travel insurance was for.”
The family was “just really happy to be in London,” said Murphy, and relieved to make their flight to the Caribbean for their cruise.
Murphy didn’t hesitate to say “yes”, and also didn’t charge a cent, reasoning that he was driving back to Falkirk anyway.
Murphy claims he had no idea his story would go viral, admitting to The Epoch Times: “It’s actually quite embarrassing to receive such recognition, as I was only looking after good customers and didn’t think twice about doing the drive ... it’s not the first time I have done a last-minute, epic journey like this, and it probably won’t be the last.”
He reflected, “If you can help others, maybe in your hour of need someone will help you. In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”
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